By Asif Shahzad
ISLAMABAD/KABUL (Reuters) -Afghanistan and Pakistan were holding peace talks in Doha on Saturday, both sides said, after the South Asia neighbours extended a ceasefire following a week of fierce border clashes.
They are seeking to find a way forward after the clashes killed dozens and wounded hundreds in the worst violence between the two countries since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021.
“As promised, negotiations with the Pakistani side will take place today in Doha,” Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said, adding that the Kabul team led by Defence Minister Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob had arrived in Doha.
TALKS COULD BE EXTENDED
Pakistan’s foreign office said Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif would lead discussions with representatives of the Afghan Taliban.
“The talks will focus on immediate measures to end cross-border terrorism against Pakistan emanating from Afghanistan and restore peace and stability along the Pak-Afghan border,” it said.
It was not immediately clear how long the talks would last. Officials on both sides have said they could be extended from Saturday, adding senior intelligence officials from both countries were part of the talks.
The ground fighting between the one-time allies and Pakistani airstrikes across their contested 2,600-km (1,600-mile) frontier were triggered after Islamabad demanded that Kabul rein in militants who had stepped up attacks in Pakistan, saying they operated from havens in Afghanistan.
The Taliban denies giving haven to militants to attack Pakistan and accuses the Pakistani military of spreading misinformation about Afghanistan and sheltering Islamic State-linked militants to undermine its stability and sovereignty. Islamabad denies the accusations.
Militants have been waging a war for years against the Pakistani state in a bid to overthrow the government and replace it with their strict brand of Islamic governance system.
On Friday, a suicide attack near the border killed seven Pakistani soldiers and wounded 13, security officials said.
“The Afghan regime must rein in the proxies who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan and are using Afghan soil to perpetrate heinous attacks inside Pakistan,” the Pakistan Army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, said on Saturday, addressing a graduation ceremony of cadets.
AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWS FROM CRICKET SERIES OVER STRIKES
The Afghan government spokesperson said Pakistan had conducted airstrikes in Afghanistan hours after the ceasefire, which began on Wednesday, was extended on Friday for as long as the talks continued.
He said the attacks targeted civilians, adding that Kabul reserved the right to respond but that Afghan fighters had been directed to refrain from retaliating to respect the negotiating team.
Afghanistan withdrew from the Twenty20 international tri-series in Pakistan next month following the death of three local cricketers that the Afghanistan Cricket Board said were due to military strikes in Paktika province.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a post on X on Saturday that Pakistan had struck “verified” camps of Islamist militants along the border areas and rejected that the strikes had targeted civilians.
He said militants had attempted to launch multiple attacks inside Pakistan during the ceasefire period.
He said more than 100 militants were killed by Pakistani security forces, the majority of them in strikes against a militant group that he said had carried out Friday’s suicide attack on the military camp.
Reuters could not independently verify the militant death toll given or any targets.
(Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad; Writing by Asif Shahzad; Editing by William Mallard, Sharon Singleton and Alison Williams)
